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Each month, we want to highlight a consumer of the AzSCIA and hear their story, and see the remarkable things people are doing around the community. We know everyone has a unique journey that got them to where they are today, and we hope to highlight that. If you have someone that you want to reccomend for this section please feel free to call us or leave us an email.
This month we are highlighting Sharon Malone. She is going to tell us her story and explain what life was SCI is like, especially with being a mother.
October 24, 2012 is a day that changed my life forever. While I don’t recall the accident itself as I was put in a medically induced coma, the profound impact it made on me & my family was devastating. I woke up 4 days after the accident happened with a trachea in my mouth and from then on all I could think of was how was I going to be the same mom I was to my 3 kids who were 2, 4, and 7 at the time. I fractured my neck (C5/C6), broke my spine in 2 places (T5/T12), broke my pelvis and tore my ACL in my right knee. I was in ICU for 15 days then spent 3 months in inpatient rehab & 3 months in a skilled nursing facility before I came home on April 17, 2013. I had lost my old two story home so this new home was a single story home that my family helped modify to fit my current situation. We were all crushed and I even lost my husband in the process. It was not easy but I had faith that there was some reason for this. My focus in my recovery was to walk again and be the supermom that I once was even though medically the doctors said I wouldn’t. But I couldn’t swallow that. To me in all of life’s lessons, I’ve come to learn there is always hope. I was assigned home health care upon my return home but to me it was not even close to the intensity that I was used to. In the skilled facility I spent evey moment (besides meals & therapists going home for the day) in the therapy room